KOTTAYAM: Why drag
Sonia Gandhi’s name into the AgustaWestland scam when she has no connection to it, asked former Defence Minister A K Antony. Speaking at a meet the press programme here on Tuesday,
Antony
said that Sonia was not part of the government, which made the decision and instead of maligning her name the Centre should complete the inquiry on the scam and take action against the culprits.
Antony also said that it was he who ordered a CBI inquiry while he was the Defence Minister.
“I had ordered for a CBI inquiry. The BJP government is in power for over two years now. They should complete the inquiries by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate and should take action against the culprits," he said.
He also said that it was in 1999 the IAF gave a proposal to the central government to change the Russian made chopper used by the Prime Minister. Based on that the then NDA government invited a global tender. Only four companies qualified for the tender and AgustaWestland did not even qualify for the tender, he said.
The criterion for qualifying the tender was that the chopper should fly 6000 feet high and had some specification about the cabin height. AgustaWestland was out in the first round itself since it could not meet both the criterions, he said.
“In 2003 the Principal Secretary of the Prime Minister Brajesh Mishra invited a global tender. The government also made basic changes to the tender. From 6000 feet they reduced the height to 4500 feet. Agusta choppers which can fly till 4572 feet thus met the criterion. And cabin height was reduced to 1.8metre, he added.
The UPA government only followed up what NDA started. But why is Sonia Gandhi’s name dragged into the issue when she had no connection with the government which had made the decision,” he asked.
He also said that the UPA government ordered an investigation and cancelled the agreement and initiated steps to blacklist the company. Now, the present NDA government has to continue the investigation and bring out the culprits, he said.